Jack Reacher sits in a cafe. He likes
the coffee here. It is his new favorite place in New York. Reacher
watched a man cross the neon-lit street and drove a Mercedes away. A
few minutes later, a stranger walked into the cafe and asked Reacher
to describe the driver's face. The stranger, the man, spoke with a
British accent and Jack figured he had military trainings. Probably
ex-special force. Probably ex-SAS.
Why would someone like that be
interested in the driver and the car? The strange ordeal seized Reacher's
attentions. The stranger, the ex-SAS guy, took Reacher to see his
boss, one Edward Lane. It turned out that Lane runs a mercenary band
for hire and he is pretty rich. All that $$$ also made Lane a target.
Someone kidnapped his beautiful wife and stepdaughter. The ransom,
one million dollars.
Lane offered Reacher a job; find Lane's
wife and stepdaughter and he would reward Reacher handsomely. But
there is a catch – no cops.
Reacher may be one hella hunter but the
case has little clues, so this time he has to do it the hard way.
The Hard Way is the 10th
installment in Lee Child's super duper thriller series. It is about a
man called Jack Reacher. The series needs little introduction because
it has sold over 100 million books. Let's just say like many others I am a fan of
these books. Meanwhile, if you
haven't read Jack Reacher and you like action thrillers, then do
yourself a favor and check out a book called Killing Floor.
The Hard Way is a very good addition to
the series. This one is a bit different to Lee Child's other books.
The highlight in this book is Jack Reacher's ability as a
crime-busting detective than an one man army. This also means there
is little fight scenes in The Hard Way. The book consists mostly of
Jack Reacher searching for clues and piecing the puzzles together. It
is a full on detective noir. One would have expected this book to be
slower than Reacher's other adventures. Surprisingly the story in The
Hard Way is fast paced, there are many unexpected twists and the story is suspenseful.
However The Hard Way is not a one man
show. A cast of supporting characters appeared alongside Reacher and
each had a unique and important role in the plot. I cannot say too
much about the supporting characters without revealing some spoilers,
but in this book the characters' motives were believable, and as the
story unfolded some of them really surprised me.
Lee Child wrote The Hard Way in his
signature style; the writings are hard boiled, punctual, and he used short sentences. The story is set in New York, and the writings
painted a noirsh tone to the world and its characters. When I was reading this book, it felt as if I was
watching a detective movie set in the night time of a buzzing
metropolitan. This is a refreshing change to the series, considering
other Jack Reacher books were often set in rural US towns.
The Hard Way is a very good thriller
novel. It is easily in my list of top 5 Jack Reacher books just after Killing Floor, Gone Tomorrow and Worth Dying For. If you like
Jack Reacher books then you cannot afford to miss this one out. On
the other hand, if you are a newcomer to Jack
Reacher's journey to dispense justice, then The Hard Way might be a
good place to start.
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